Brakes

...or something similar...

I don’t know where he got it.

And I'm certainly am not surprised things turned out the way they did.

Maybe I should start at the beginning . . .

Sally is home.

This time—with the outbreak of Covid-19—she is here for the foreseeable future.

Apparently movie stars are just as susceptible as the rest of us.

Go figure.

Woe be unto us.

I should probably explain that there have been a few changes in our household.

For one thing, the household.

A couple of months ago, Sally—she of the handsomely-paid movie star job—bought a new, significantly larger house a couple of blocks from our old neighbourhood. Then begged Mom and I to move in with her.

I will admit she captured me with the promise of my own bedroom.

With my own bathroom.

And a beautiful yard.

We had just finished moving in when the call came to stay at home.

This is self-isolating deluxe!

Oh, also Mort is sharing our stay-at-home-i-ness with us. It had started as a week-long thing while his parents had their house renovated.

And the timing was bad.

He now has the basement suite.

Can you believe I actually live in a house with something besides storage in the basement?

Yeah, I keep catching Mom pinching herself, too.

Anyways, back to this morning . . .

Mort appeared from his sunrise walk with an ancient bicycle.

Tandem.

Apparently it had been rusting happily among the weeds of Little Pearl Creek for some years. With all this time on his hands, he decided he could give it the extensive care it needed.

And a home.

He spent much of the morning in the garage (yes, we have a garage!) fixing said bicycle. Greasing. Adjusting.

I don’t know. Doing ‘bike’ things.

Finally, he and his new friend emerged.

One pedal was missing its rubber thingamee and had been reduced to the basics. Both the front and back fenders had to be removed because of possible tetanus-y stuff.

In lieu of two fully-functioning seats, he had tied on a couple of towels.

It was just as rusty and disreputable-looking, but now it had been ‘oiled’ and ‘upgraded’ (his words).

“Sally!” he shouted from the front walk.

I’ll tell you, she could be anywhere, doing anything (because she is, you know, Sally) but that girl could hear that boy’s call no matter what was going on.

She appeared at the front door, with Mom and me close behind.

We find it’s best to start any new adventure with our eyes on Sally.

Let’s face it, it’s just safer.

“Come for a ride with me!”

While Mom and I were still gazing at the sad vehicle with something akin to horror, Sally squealed with delight and leaped aboard the drivers ‘seat’.

Have I mentioned that girl is game for anything?

Mort swung his long legs on behind and, with a quick wave for those of us with too much sense to even approach, they were off down the drive.

Mom and I looked at each other, then shrugged and went back inside.

I had been in the middle of creating a nice slow-cooker stew for supper and was soon happily absorbed in chopping vegetables once more.

The handy little kitchen gadget was bubbling merrily, earning its keep, and I was tidying up when I heard Mom shriek.

I dropped the dishcloth and ran.

Hey. I live with Sally. Something dangerous and/or entertaining was surely happening . . .

Mom was standing in the open front door, staring outside.

I joined her.

Sally and Mort were just coming up the drive.

Both looked a little different than when they had left 20 minutes before.

Sally was soaking wet.

And Mort had sprouted leaves and petals.

The bicycle was nowhere to be seen.

“Are you hurt?” Mom asked.

“Nope!” Sally said brightly.

“Soooo . . . want to tell me about it?”

They stopped at the bottom of the steps.

“Nope!” Sally said again.
Mom turned to Mort. “Mort?”

He brushed at some of his greenery. “Ummm . . . you may want to avoid that Mrs. Talent and her flower garden just to the east of us here.”

Mom sighed, then cocked an eyebrow. “And . . .?”

Sally broke in. “If anyone asks, we have no idea how the old flour mill got knocked into the creek.”

Mom blinked. “The whole mill? Like, the building that’s been there since the dawn of time?”

Sally nodded and headed past Mom and me into the house.

Mort followed more slowly, then stopped and smiled, rather ruefully. “Funny thing,” he said. “Did you know that bikes need brakes?”

Today is a word challenge. My favourite thing!

Here’s how it works. Our intrepid leader, Karen collects word from her loyal followers, which she then re-issues back to said loyal followers.

No one knows whose words they will acquire or what will be done to the words they’ve given.

Get it?

See? Totally fun!

My words today: flower ~ flour ~ petal ~ pedal were given to me by Karen herself! Thank you so much, my friend! This. Is. Awesome!

There’s more fun ahead:
Baking In A Tornado
Spatulas on Parade
Wandering Web Designer

Part-time Working Hockey Mom
Sparkly Poetic Weirdo
Climaxed
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